Which AIR MILES Credit Card Is Best For 2017?

May 23, 2017 by Stephen Weyman

AIR MILES has come under fire recently for the mismanagement of their expiry policy and the availability of desirable rewards for consumers. They eventually backtracked and cancelled their expiration policy entirely.

With all the bad press, they are trying harder than ever to please their customers and keep them informed. They've redesigned their website to make it easier to use, they're emailing program updates on a regular basis now, and they're beefing up their security as well to help protect your hard-earned miles from thieves.

That doesn't mean all the problems are gone - and whether or not you continue to collect AIR MILES is completely up to you.

But, if you are going to collect, you might as well choose a top AIR MILES credit card to help you earn and redeem that much faster.

AIR MILES Credit Card Comparison

The cards in the table are ordered from best to worst. Please note that the table scrolls horizontally by using the slider at the bottom.

To give you more options, cards that aren't branded as AIR MILES cards but allow you to convert points to miles are also included.

* Limited time promotion ending soon.1. In the cases where the credit card in question earns points of another kind than AIR MILES, points are assumed to be converted to AIR MILES in the most favorable way possible.2. Miles Per $100 Spent is a calculated number that factors in spending spread sensibly across spending categories like groceries, gas, drugstore, travel, bills, and everyday spending. All points are converted to AIR MILES when determining reward value. All spending bonuses, tiers, limits, and caps are taken into account. Sign up bonuses are NOT included in these numbers, so that will be an extra perk for you.3. $25,000 in annual spending works out to $2,083 in monthly spending which is achievable for a typical Canadian family funneling most of their spending through credit.4. $100,000 in annual spending works out to $8,333 in monthly spending which is too high for most families. I have included these numbers to better evaluate cards and give an advantage to those that don't have spending caps or limits. It also allows cards that have a good tier system to shine at higher spending levels.5. The sign up bonus is a lump sum of points or miles you get when first opening a new credit card. It is often given when you make your first purchase, spend a reasonable amount of money on the card within the first X months, keep the card open for X months, or some combination of those. The criteria to qualify for the sign up bonus are usually very reasonable.

The Top 3 In Detail

1) BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard

This card absolutely destroys the rest of the competition when it comes to both earning AIR MILES faster and great perks like best in class insurance coverage. As the top AIR MILES card it automatically gets a score of 5, but the astonishing part is the next highest card isn't even close to it with a score of 2.82. In most of my rankings, the 2nd place card usually score at least a 4.5 or higher. The only reason not to get this card is if you can't qualify or your spending is too low to justify the $120 annual fee.

You can also combine this card with a premium banking package from BMO to get its annual fee waived. Further, you can waive the monthly banking plan fee by keeping a minimum balance in your chequing account. Normally I avoid premium banking packages like the plague, but this combo from BMO is actually quite decent.

Why You Want It:

Earn 1 AIR MILE per $10 spent on all purchases - the highest of any card.

25% discount on AIR MILES flight bookings which really boosts reward value.

2) American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card

The American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card is the best card for most collectors because it comes with a lower annual fee, a large sign up bonus, a high earning rate, and you can qualify for the card even with no income. It gives you most of the benefits of the more premium cards, without all the extra hassle. Back when I was a bigger AIR MILES collector, this was my card of choice.

Why You Want It:

1 mile per $15 spent on all purchases - higher than the usual 1 mile per $20.

1 mile per $10 spent on gas, grocery, drugstore, and AIR MILES sponsor purchases.

Lower annual fee ($65) than most other premium cards with similar benefits.

3) BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard

The BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard is very similar to the BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard but not nearly as good. For a $20 annual fee savings you lose your sign up bonus, your mile earning rate drops from 1 mile per $10 spent to 1 mile per $15 spent, you get worse insurance coverage, and there is no lounge access included.

Bottom line: the only reason you'd choose the World version over the World Elite is if you can't meet the $80K minimum income requirement of the Elite card.

What's Important To You?

What you think is the most important feature of a credit card might not line up with my own assessment. Therefore, if one of the features listed below is of great importance to you, then you might want to consider applying for a card that does well in that particular area.

1) Earning Miles As Fast As Possible

If all you want is the most bang in miles for your buck, then the BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard has no equal. You get 1 mile per $10 spent across all spending categories, which none of the other cards can match. That works out to exactly 10 miles per $100 spent. The problem is, you'll need an income of $80,000 or more to qualify!

My recommendation is to go with the American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card because it has a combination of a high earn rate (8 miles per $100 spent), a reasonable annual fee of $65, a massive sign up bonus of 2,000 free miles, and a lot of premium perks and features for little cost.

If you want free bonus miles, then most of the no fee cards from BMO often have 500 bonus mile promotions. I update this table monthly, so if there isn't a promotion right now, one will probably be coming soon.

3) No Annual Fee

If you can't imagine ever paying an annual fee for a credit card, then your best choice is surprisingly the BMO IGA AIR MILES MasterCardor the BMO Sobeys AIR MILES MasterCard. These cards are almost identical except that one doubles your miles at IGA and the other at Sobeys. The IGA card also gives you a small 1.25x bonus at Shell gas stations, which is nice. Really the choice comes down to if you have one of these grocery store chains nearby.

4) Top Insurance Package

If you're a frequent traveler, then the insurance coverage offered by a good credit card can easily save you thousands of dollars. Whenever you rent a car you can decline the Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) that adds up to $20 per day to the bill. If you drop your brand new iPad within the first 90-120 days of owning it, you can get a full repair or reimbursement of the purchase price.

Need medical insurance? Good cards offer from 15-31 days of travel medical absolutely free which could easily cost you hundreds per trip. With 15+ types of credit card insurance available, the potential savings certainly don't end there!

The BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard has the top insurance package hands down offering 14 out of the 15 types of insurance that I track. Not only that, but it is better in each of those categories than almost all of the other AIR MILES cards.

If you want something with no annual fee and a low minimum income, then the MBNA Best Western MasterCard would be what I'd suggest. It has 7 types of insurance coverage, which is very high for a credit card with no annual fee.

5) Great Perks

It gives you a free companion flight once a year, 4 lounge passes, concierge service, and an annual free partner ticket when redeeming up to 1,700 Miles on flights. You also get the ability to use your miles for business class flights, taxes and fees, and other flights that are typically unavailable to AIR MILES collectors. It even allows you to waive the administration fee you normally have to pay when booking a reward flight.

Other perks include priority access to security, taxi, and limo lines at select Canadian airports and exclusive access to better concert and event seating via American Express Front Of The Line. The $299 annual fee is steep, but if you like perks then this card is worth it.

Converting Points To Miles

You may see a few credit cards in the above table that seem out of place because they don't reward you in AIR MILES directly. However, certain rewards programs allow you to convert your points to miles for free. I wanted to include those cards that allow you to turn your points into miles to be thorough and provide a few unconventional options.

Converting Best Western Rewards To AIR MILES

You can redeem Best Western Rewards in 5,000 point increments with each group of 5,000 points being worth 80 AIR MILES. You're going to lose a fair amount of point value by doing this, but it's an option if you have the points and really want the extra miles.

Looking For Travel Rewards Credit Cards?

The cards listed here are AIR MILES rewards miles only. Follow this link if you are looking for travel credit cards.

Disclosure: You should know that HowToSaveMoney.ca receives a referral fee for some credit cards listed; however, our unbiased algorithm dictates the results of our credit card rankings. You can trust that our rankings are strictly independent of compensation; here’s a more detailed disclosure on how HTS makes money.

I have looked around Google quite a lot at this topic and your info is excellent! I have one strange concern, though: I am an RBC client and find having my credit card within my regular online banking keeps me in check because I see it/pay it every time I get paid/log in. Since I have no reason to log into BMO, there's no built-in rigour. Have you researched RBC's air miles card? Is it a bad option? Insights welcome!

Hi Nadine. I'm going to be publishing a more thorough analysis of all the travel related credit cards in Canada in early 2016. That one will include the RBC cards. RBC doesn't really have a lot of standout cards but they aren't bad either. The Avion Infinite isn't a bad card at all. There are definitely better ones out there but if you simply must have an RBC travel rewards card, then I'd probably go with the Avion.

Nice post, however, a minor detail regarding the HCB Mastercard (from their website):

"Please note that only Hudson’s Bay Rewards points earned at Hudson’s Bay, Hudson’s Bay online and Home Outfitters, or otherwise awarded by Hudson’s Bay Company or any of its affiliates can be redeemed for AIR MILES® reward miles."

So unless you spend a lot at these stores, it might not make much sense to get this card.

Thanks for commenting Adrianne. I don't think this impacts things much because you can earn HBC points at ANY store using the HBC MasterCard. That is a legitimate way to earn HBC points, so those points will still be eligible to be converted to AIR MILES.

One more note to point out. The BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard allows you to book flights at a 25% discount in miles. Not sure if the other cards do that as well but if you're redeeming for flights it means the miles are actually worth more with that particular card.

I'm sorry to hear that Colleen. It is true that the site uses credit cards as a way to earn money. However, I will never ever recommend a credit card or other product that I don't 100% believe in or would use myself.

I have also built a credit card ranking system from the ground up over the past 5 years that ranks credit cards by ALL of their features. In any of my comparison articles, I always include links to all credit cards whether I earn any money from them or not. If the top card doesn't pay out any money, then it is still the top card no matter what.

I'm not sure how long you have been a reader for, but some of the earliest content on HowToSaveMoney.ca was about credit cards and maximizing their rewards. This was long before the site earned any money from those cards at all. I've also personally been using rewards credit cards to save money and travel the world practically free since 2003, long before I even conceived this site. I don't want to see people in debt and only recommend using a credit card if you can pay off your bill every month like I do.

Given all of that, you'll see that comparing credit cards and maximizing their rewards is actually long standing passion of mine. This year I have been attempting to update and add to much of my older credit card content because it has become so out of date.

I'm sure you'll also be happy to know that I'm planning to launch a new site focused entirely on credit cards so I can move a lot of those types of articles off HowToSaveMoney.ca. I will still be producing some credit card related content here, but mostly just comparison articles and not reviews and credit card related news.

Missed this question earlier Marie - my apologies. It is no problem if your income goes down, you will still be able to keep the card just fine as long as you have a good track record of paying on time. I wouldn't report the income change to them either unless they ask you to.

$70,000 is actually the standard for all World Elite cards. I believe Infinite cards are also $60,000 or $70,000 across the board. I'm not 100% sure of the reason for it, but I'm sure there are several.

One thing I do know is that you can qualify for cards where you don't quite meet the income requirements if your credit is good enough. Also be sure to include all possible sources of income when giving them this number. If you receive money through any means - add it in. If you're even close, I'd still give it a shot. The worst they can say is no.

How are these bonus cards really suppose to be so good for someone wanting to use these for flying? My husband & I, each have been accumulating for years, on the Aeroplan and Airmiles cards. We just checked them today, we are barely able to fly to Montreal or Toronto from Saint John, NB. Are these cards a waste of time to chase points?

The trick Laura is to sign up for credit cards fairly regularly with large sign up bonuses. For instance, one of the BMO cards has a 3,000 mile bonus right now. That's enough to get flying right away. There are also good Aeroplan offers that will get you enough miles for a trip across North America just with the sign up bonus.

Then, when collecting miles in-store, you also need to stay on top of bonuses to make it really worthwhile. Otherwise, you can just expect a small discount from time to time for buying stuff you would anyway - better than nothing.

For everyday spending for a family on your credit card, you should be able to easily earn 2,500 miles a year at a rate of 1 mile per $10 spent. In 2 years you'd have enough for short haul tickets for 2 people + fees and taxes.

Definitely use the links provided on this site. The current bonus for the BMO World Elite Card according to the BMO website is for 1000 air miles. I figured that the 3000 mile deal was expired but that isn't the case at all. If you follow the link on this page, it goes to a special deal page on the BMO site and still includes the 3000 air miles described above. I went through the application process which confirmed the 3000 air mile bonus was indeed still valid. Thanks to the link above I got an extra 2000 bonus air miles that I would have been screwed out of by going straight to the BMO site. Howtosave indeed. Sweet.

Yes sometimes affiliate offers are better than what the banks offer on their own sites. I happen to be affiliated with BMO and they also happen to sometimes give better offers to their affiliates. Affiliate relationships do not affect my rankings though. The number #1 ranked card is always #1 no matter if I am affiliated with them or not.

Hot Credit Card Deals This Month are listed. Caveat: regarding the Tangerine Mastercard, to be eligible for the 3 bonus categories, you must have the cash reward deposited to a Tangerine bank account, otherwise you are eligible for only 2 bonus categories and the cash reward is credited on your statement. An excellent feature is that the cash reward is paid monthly and not annually (like so many other cash back cards). I have had the card for 6 months and highly recommend it.

I have a no-fee TD Visa Drivers Reward card and use that card for gas which is rewarded at 2%, thus I do not use Tangerine's gas bonus category but elect another category.

Although not specific to this article, that's good information about the Tangerine card Norman. That's the reason why I put "up to 3 bonus categories" in the Hot Credit Card Deals section. The good news is that anyone can get the 3rd category if they really want it because Tangerine accounts are free.

Thanks for pointing that out Simon. I just noticed the $50 the other day too and was shocked because my own data said it was free for secondary cards. This must be a new fee then as I heard a bunch of banks raised fees recently. I've updated the article.

Very interested to see your "best" credit card ratings. Somewhat surprised to see Amex heading or leading in so many categories. They are one of the card companies that Credit Card Acceptors like to deal with the least. They have a reputation for slow payment, higher fees to retailers, and falling worldwide acceptance.

Yes, the reason they are accepted less is because their merchant fees are a bit higher. However, they offer cards with some of the best rewards and features out there along with providing excellent customer service.

Do you know if or how double dipping is allowed for the AirMiles bonus on credit card applications? A few months ago I applied online for a BMO AirMiles Mastercard and received 600 bonus AirMiles. Now there is an offering of a BMO IGA AirMiles Mastercard with a 500 AirMile point bonus. The fine print stipulates "Limit of one (1) offer per AIR MILES Collector Account (“Collector Account”)". Even though the credit cards have different sponsors, i.e. BMO vs BMO IGA, it is not clear to me whether I would be eligible for this second bonus. Any idea? (I suppose I could possibly apply for this second MasterCard and not provide my AirMiles account collector number and likely have a second AirMiles account created for me...whadda'ya think?)

Yes, you definitely can get the bonus for multiple cards even if they are from the same issuer (BMO in your case). Many times you can get the bonus again for the SAME card although the terms you listed indicate that it may not be the case with BMO.

If you wait more than a year and try again on the same card, I wouldn't be surprised if you were successful.

I just viewed the BMO website (bmo.com) & the grey-colour BMO Sobeys AirMiles Mastercard does not seem to be available (through the link that shows all the available BMO credit cards) however the blue BMO AirMiles one is still there.

I then checked the Sobeys website (bmosobeys.com) & it is still there & application link seems to work?

I believe this is because BMO doesn't market the card through their own website and marketing channels. It is marketed by Sobeys and through their channels. It has a dedicated landing page for that purpose. I haven't heard any word of it being phased out.

I have accumulated a large number of points and fear that I may loose many of them in the next year. I was told that if I purchase the American Express Air Miles Reserve Credit Card at a cost of $299.00 per year, all of my Air Miles points will be protected. Is this true?

This isn't exactly true to my knowledge. Having that card can help you achieve Air Miles Onyx status more quickly. To qualify you need to earn a minimum of 6,000 miles per year. If you accomplish that, then having Onyx status WILL prevent your miles from expiring. It's the status that does it, not the card itself.

The 2,400 miles sign up bonus will go a long way towards getting you to that 6,000 threshold quickly.

Previously you had noted "The trick Laura is to sign up for credit cards fairly regularly with large sign up bonuses. For instance, one of the BMO cards has a 3,000 mile bonus right now. That's enough to get flying right away. There are also good Aeroplan offers that will get you enough miles for a trip across North America just with the sign up bonus."

How would one go about getting these additional bonus air miles? Would a new card have to be applied for whenever there is a sign up bonus program? Would the existing card have to be cancelled before applying for the new one? Would it be best to do this with a no-fee card?

Yes, each bonus you get is when you apply for a new credit card. The credit cards with the highest bonuses typically have an annual fee. It's best to look for cards that waive the annual fee for the first year so you can get the bonus without paying a fee and then cancel the card within the first year before the fee kicks in if you don't want to keep it.

If you spot no-fee cards that have good bonuses, you can of course do it with them as well. Use the link to ALL the Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards page in the article above. You will find many of those cards have good sign up bonuses.

The Terms and Coditions for signing up for BMO Mastercards to gain bonus Airmiles states that you cannot cancel an existing Card with them, sign up again within the year and receive the bonus Airmiles.

Good to know Barbara, thanks. I don't normally churn the same cards over and over again within a short period of time so these kinds of rules don't usually impact me except that American Express is now supposedly one bonus lifetime per each of their cards.

For example, I recently received a BMO Sobey's no fee Air Miles card and I can easily achieve a 10.25% return on spending. How do you ask? I just purchased $2,000 worth of Sobey's gift cards on an Air Miles bonus promo, which gave 95 bonus Air Miles per $200 gift card. This equated to the following number of Air Miles: (a) 600 Air Miles for the purchase on my BMO card (triple for the 1st 3 months) + 100 additional Air Miles for my Air Miles collector card @ 1 Air Mile per $20 spend+ 50 additional Air Miles per $ 100 spend for bonus Air Miles @ Sobeys utilizing these $ 2,000 worth of gift cards for an additional 1,000 Air Miles.

This totals up to 1,700 Air Miles for a $ 2,000 spend. This particular transaction equates to a return of 85 cents per mile for your spend.

I realize this is only possible for the 1st 3 months, but I intend to purchase an equivalent amount of Sobey's gift cards each time this offer comes out as a 2,000 amount of spend @ Sobey's only takes about 3 months to use up. Therefore I should be able to
generate an additional 1,300 Air Miles three more times during the year just with the Sobey's promo.

The end result of this exercise is that it shows that you can easily achieve Onyx status with Air Miles each year by employing this status, which allows you to achieve Air Miles flights up to 40% less Air Miles along with other special perks.

If you do the math at the end of the year, it is entirely possible that you will far exceed the 3-6% return that you receive with Aeroplan & I believe it is much easier to fly utilizing Air Miles than it is with Aeroplan points.

I do have existing Aeroplan points that I will be using to fly my wife & I to San Francisco next fall, but after that, I will be all in on Air Miles from that point forward.

This is a great strategy you are using, but it doesn't mean my analysis is flawed. Bonuses you get for purchasing gift cards at Sobeys has nothing to do with the regular return on spending you get from making normal purchases on your credit card. That's what this article is all about.

I talk about Air Miles bonuses in other articles I've written on the subject.

My apologies for my choice of words in my comments. Severely flawed was a way too harsh.

The other point I meant to make was I think it is much easier for the average person to acquire Air Miles than it is to acquire Aeroplan or West Jet points.

My wife & I are currently retired, so we are not flying 3 or 4 times a month on business trips and accumulating large amounts of Aeroplan points and trips. It makes little sense to pay a huge premium for airline trips in order to collect a larger percentage of aeroplane points on a trip. I would much rather use Skyscanner and find the best deal with any airline for a trip, especially when flying to Europe or Asia.

Whereas, the average person could easily employ a similar strategy that I use and easily reach Onyx status with Air Miles and benefit from the 40% discount on Air Miles for selected flights. Granted, it helps to be retired, because you can fly at anytime and not be restricted to peak seasons and you can book a way ahead.

Are you able to double dip point earnings for the BMO Air Miles World Elite? Say I purchase with the card and present my Airmiles collector card at time of purchase thru a participating retailer, will I earn double the points?

You will earn points on both but it won't necessarily be double. Partners have completely different earning rates than credit cards. The most common earning rate of partners and credit cards is 1 mile per $20 spent - but it varies heavily.

I love my airmiles! I have the free credit card and flew from AB to New Brunswick with them every year, when my parents were with us and also went to an all inclusive resort in Mexico. All I had to pay was the taxes.

Interesting article, but you're only looking at "AIR MILES". What about some of the other programs out there? I personally love my American Express SPG card. I earn 1 point for every dollar spent. Those points can then be converted to over 30 different airline points programs..... AND when you convert 20,000 points, you get 5,000 bonus points. Therefore, I can convert 60,000 points over to AA (american airlines), and end up with 75,000 AA points. With SPG you are not locked into a specific program like AIR MILES....instead I can use many different airline loyalty programs and their partners. Just something to think about.

Wrote a review of SPG last week a couple of articles back. Check that out if you're interested. I've ranked other travel rewards cards here (which includes AIR MILES cards but they didn't crack the top 10):

For the American Express AIR MILES Reserve card there is a fairly hefty annual fee of $299. With a $25,000 spend, that only comes out to about $39 in net rewards a year. However, this card does offer a lot of insurance, so, if insurance is more important to you than rewards, this is a good card to look into.

I just found your page, it is great. I was looking for information about how to get the bonus Air Miles more often. I just got the American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card. I imagine I can't just cancel it and reapply. Are there minimum time limits before reapplying?

I also have the BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard. If I upgrade it to the BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard can I still get the bonus Air Miles?

American Express recently instituted a policy of only get the bonus on a particular card one per lifetime but they aren't really enforcing it that well in Canada I hear. I think they're cracking down on it harder in the USA. Sometimes there is a minimum time period as well, but a year is usually safe.

You'd have to call BMO and ask about the bonus when you upgrade. Usually if you're upgrading the bonus does apply, but you can always just apply directly for the World Elite card and then cancel your World card afterwards. If you're trying to preserve credit history and minimize credit checks, then the upgrade is the better route though if you can still get the bonus.